CP Sportsman

Travel back in time when NHRA Sportsman racing scored time on the big stage of television with the Winston professional series broadcasts. The video is from the 1977 NHRA Springnationals in Columbus, Ohio with the primary focus on the sportsman divisions with mentions of the professional classes.

You will see eliminations in Pro Comp, Comp and Modified. There are highlights from Stock and Super Stock as well as the professional finals.

Byron Dragway today announced the 2017 Big Bucks Bracket Bash Series schedule. With over $400,000 in total posted prize money, it is the world’s richest track operated bracket program. The series features bracket racing in the Super Pro, Pro Eliminator, Street Eliminator, and Sportsman categories.

Super Pro pays a guaranteed $2,500 to win on Saturdays and $5,000 to win on Sundays with the exception for increased payouts during the 18th Annual Firecracker Bracket Nationals (June 30-July 2) and Fall Bracket Nationals (October 14-15) weekends. Super Pro is a combination Box and No Box class. The final round is a runoff between the last Box and No Box cars.

George Howard, 66, died on Jan. 8, after experiencing a brief illness.

Howard was best known for his incredibly large purses for bracket racing events, namely a $40,000 top prize for an E.T. bracket race. He would later stage a Million Dollar Drag Race at Huntsville Dragway, one of the many drag strips he either owned or managed.

The success of his Million Dollar Drag Race later spawned the B&M Racer’s Appreciation Series.

At the PRI Show in early December, the Professional Drag Racers Association (PDRA) announced that the highly popular Top Sportsman category will undergo a slight makeover for 2017. The class, which has brought as many as 88 entries to qualify for 16 spots, will now offer the chance for 32 or 48 cars to qualify for every event. All TS entries will qualify together, as normal. Once qualifying has been completed, the top 16 qualifiers will be drafted into a semi-pro class. This ‘Elite 16’ category, besides coming with greater prestige, will also pay more to win. The remainder of the field will run as a 16 car qualified field unless there are 42 or more total TS entries. If 42 or more total TS cars make a qualifying pass, Top Sportsman will run as a 32 car field in addition to the Elite 16. The top 16 qualifiers will be referred to as MagnaFuel Elite 16, while the bottom 16 or 32 will retain the class’ name of MagnaFuel Top Sportsman.

Last season's NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series was another to remember for Super Stock racer Jimmy DeFrank, and he is more eager than ever to jump into a whole new year of doing what he loves. The pilot of the DeFrank & Sons Racing Chevrolet Cobalt accumulated a large amount of points towards the big trophy last year, and in the end, he and his team scored their fifth Super Stock world championship and 13th overall division title. In total, the Chatsworth, California-based racer heads into the 2017 season with 19 national event titles on his scorecard and 45 division wins.

DJ Cox will drive full-time for the Bartone Brothers Top Alcohol Funny Car team during the 2017 season in the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series. Cox is the defending NHRA Lucas Oil Series East Region champion.

“I’m thankful to Tony and Steve for the opportunity,” Cox said. “Tony has put together an exceptional team with all the best equipment and necessary resources. The goal is to win the national championship, so expectations are high. I'm looking forward to the challenge.”

The Bartone Brothers Racing team plans to race in 12 National events and six East Region events this season. Cox drove part-time for the Bartone Brothers Racing team in four events during the 2016 season and found instant chemistry with the group, winning in their first national event together on September 18 at Charlotte’s zMax Dragway.

There's nothing more prestigious than winning Top Fuel at the NHRA U.S. Nationals, and that's exactly what inspired a group of sportsman racers to use the first round of eliminations as a protest platform. No sportsman division had dared to stand up to the seemingly invincible sanctioning body, not to mention during their flagship national event. There's always a first time for everything, however, and in 1981 a group of disgruntled sportsman racers took the NHRA to task in front of their paying customers.

This makeshift group of sportsman racers had been rumor fodder in the pits for a few months prior to the event, yet when they confronted the sanctioning body the issue was always sidestepped. On Labor Day weekend in 1981 they took the unprecedented step of airing their concerns before one of the largest crowds of the year. After all, they had nothing to lose.